Riley's coffee was starting to cool by the time she tracked Gabriel to a rarely-used conference room on the second floor.
She paused in the corridor, studying him through the glass wall. He was leaning back in a chair, legs propped up on the table, wearing the distant expression that she'd learned to associate with intensive chip use. She thought she had a pretty good idea what he was doing.
She tapped on the glass and Gabriel turned his head sharply, distant look vanishing. Riley held up the two cups-one in each hand-and nodded toward the door. Gabriel smiled widely-she'd missed that smile, she realized-then slid his feet off the table and stood up in one smooth motion. He opened the door with a flourish.
He looked good, she thought, cataloging his condition automatically. Good color. Moving easily. No grimace of pain when he stood up. No lingering signs at all that a bullet had ripped through his stomach two months ago. No, now he looked really good...
She realized abruptly that Gabriel had said something.
"Sorry?" Riley said, belatedly handing over the second cup of coffee. She wasn't on vacation anymore, she scolded herself. She needed to have her head in the game.
"I asked how your visit with your mom was," he said. His eyes narrowed in concern. "Are you okay?"
"I'm fine." She took a sip from her own cup. "The visit was...awkward. Like usual. I think we're still working out how to talk to each other." She still wasn't entirely sure what had possessed her to spend her vacation visiting her mother, instead of, say, exploring some nice European beaches or doing a little extreme hiking. Or jumping out of a plane without a parachute. "She has a new boyfriend."
"Oh yeah?" Gabriel perched on the edge of the table with the expression of interest he always got when other people's relationships came up. "So how's that going?"
Better than the last boyfriend Riley had met. "He seems like a nice guy. Retired engineer. I think her taste has improved as she's gotten older."
Gabriel looked amused. "How long did you last before you went over to your brother's place?"
"Two days," Riley admitted. Well, technically she'd left on the second day. But she'd waited until after lunch. "We got together for a dinner a couple of times after that. Baby steps, right?" It actually hadn't been as bad as she'd thought it might be, but she was still glad she'd opted to spend the first week with her father. "Speaking of mothers, is your mother settled back home? How's she enjoying her new kitchen?"
"She likes the kitchen," Gabriel said, "but I think she misses getting to take care of me. Speaking of which, I'm told she's planning on inviting us both over for dinner this weekend." He winked. "I think she's still hoping that if she can arrange for us to spend enough time together, it'll go somewhere."
Riley laughed. "My sister-in-law was trying to set me up with one of her co-workers while I was there." She'd actually considered returning to her mother's after that dinner, to avoid any further attempts. Although she'd thought later that maybe that had been the point. "Some people can't see a single person without trying to do something about it."
"Especially when it's their own kid," Gabriel agreed.
She wondered what he'd told his family about Amelia. Whether they knew Amelia had been dead less than a year, or whether they still thought she died six or eight years ago, when she first disappeared.
She didn't want to ask.
"So I hear you've been cleared to return to the field," she said instead.
"Finally," he agreed with an exaggerated sigh of relief. "I was about ready to start sneaking off on missions on my own."
"Is that why you're up here?" Riley asked, looking around the conference room. "You needed a change of scenery?"
"Kind of. But mostly I just wanted to see daylight," Gabriel said, nodding toward the window. "We don't get a lot of that down the hall."
"I've noticed." The lack of windows made sense from a security point of view, but she pitied the people who were there all day, every day.
"You must be looking forward to getting back in the field again too," Gabriel said.
"I don't know. It was kind of a nice break, not having to worry about keeping you from getting hit over the head or infected with some deadly illness or shot. Again."
"You were climbing the walls."
Riley shrugged. Maybe she had spent more time than was strictly necessary in the gym. She'd gone out in the field a few times with Jameson for minor missions, but Gabriel's convalescence had reinforced for her just how much her job depended on his existence. Oh, if something happened to Gabriel, she had no doubt that Lillian would find something else for her at Cyber Com-if Riley could bring herself to stay-but it was a little disturbing to realize just how much of her life revolved around one person.
"Any luck tracking down the rest of the Tigers?" she asked.
He shook his head. "We identified another dozen sleepers while you were gone. Mostly minor, with a couple of mid-level people. But the Tigers are gone. They all disappeared within twenty-four hours of Weatherly's arrest and none of them have popped up on the radar since."
"They must know we're onto them," Riley said. "They've gone to ground. But they'll have to show up sooner or later."
"It's the later part I'm worried about," Gabriel replied. "We know Cameron's not their presidential candidate, but we don't know who is, and until we do..."
"We're risking an Iranian sleeper agent as president." Riley suppressed a shudder at the thought. Bad enough that Director of National Intelligence had been working on behalf of another country. They were still calculating the damage he'd done. But the president?
"Exactly." Gabriel paused, eyes going distant again.
"What?"
"Lillian's on her way over," he said, refocusing.
"Maybe you'll get your chance to go back into the field today."
Lillian appeared at the door a moment later. "Riley, welcome back. Gabriel, we're about to have some visitors. Sam Mendez is on his way over with some INR agents. Apparently someone told them that Clockwork might be able to help them with a problem they have."
"Mendez?" Riley asked. The name sounded familiar, but she couldn't quite place it.
"He was confirmed as Weatherly's replacement last week," Lillian said.
She remembered now. Former NSA, with a reputation as a straight-shooter. "Has he been briefed on Clockwork?"
Lillian shook her head. "Not yet. This will be our first chance to show him what we can do."
"And we're sure he's not another sleeper agent?" A horrifying thought, but one she thought was going to be asked about everyone for the next while.
"Vetted him myself," Gabriel said. "Along with everyone else on the shortlist."
"The president requested it," Lillian clarified. "He wanted to make sure we didn't end up with a repeat of the situation with Weatherly." She touched her earpiece, listening, then dropped her hand. "They're here. Remember that the INR agents are not cleared for Clockwork, so keep it under wraps while they're around. I'll handle Mendez's briefing myself in private when there's time."
"After he's seen what kind of results we get," Riley predicted.
Lillian favoured her with enigmatic smile. "I'll bring our visitors down to C-Doc after I find out what they're here for." She turned to leave, then paused mid-step. "One more thing." She looked back at Gabriel. "Your sister is part of the team that's coming over."
***
"Any idea what kind of stuff your sister's doing with the INR?" Riley asked as they headed toward C-Doc.
"Last I heard, she was working AN/SPM."
Military and weapons proliferation. Riley could imagine at least half a dozen ways that could lead to them needing help from Clockwork. Most of them involved international travel. It looked like she and Gabriel were going to be returning to the field with a vengeance.
Another thought occurred to her. "Does she know about..." Riley gestured in the general direction of where she thought the chip was. (Dr. Cassidy had once given her a very detailed and disturbing briefing on the precise location of the chip, and how to go about removing it in case the unthinkable happened. Riley had privately sworn to make sure it never came to that, and had mostly succeeded in suppressing the memory.)
"Of course not," Gabriel said. "Just like I probably don't know half of what she does."
"Your mom didn't tell her?"
"Mom was Army for a long time. She knows what classified means." He shot her a quick grin. "On the other hand, she's probably told Katie everything she knows about you."
They arrived at C-Doc just as Lillian turned the corner from the other direction. She was accompanied by four people: a tall, dark-haired man in his fifties whom Riley recognized from photos, two other men, one who looked to be in his late forties and the other in his twenties, and a fair-haired woman in her early forties, presumably Gabriel's sister.
The woman separated herself from the group as they got closer, heading straight for Gabriel. He stepped up and wrapped her in a hug. "Katie."
Riley studied Katherine surreptitiously as they hugged. She was about Riley's height and slender, with the same coloring as her brother. According to Mary Vaughn, Katherine had been the only member of the family who hadn't joined the Army. She'd married a soldier instead, then pursued a career as an intelligence agent.
"I wondered if I'd see you here," Katherine said, smiling as she and her brother broke off the hug.
"Of course," he replied. "Wouldn't miss seeing you work."
"So you're Katherine's famous younger brother," said the older of the two INR agents.
Gabriel gave his sister an amused look. "You been telling stories about me?"
"Only the good ones." She smiled at Riley. "You must be Riley Neal. I've heard a lot about you. I'm looking forward to working with you." She glanced up at Gabriel. "Unless you just came by to say hello?"
"No, they'll be working with you," Lillian said. "Let's head into C-Doc. We can do proper introductions there."
Gabriel held the door for them, ushering them into C-Doc. Riley waited for him to enter, then took up her usual spot beside him. Around the room, heads came up as Lillian took up position at the front of the room.
"First, I want to introduce our new Director of National Intelligence, Sam Mendez," she said. "I'm sure we'll have a long and productive relationship with him. I'd also like to introduce Agents Tom Nguyen, Katherine Vaughn-Park, and Tyler Brooks from the Bureau of Intelligence and Research. They have a problem they think we can help them with. I'm going to let them have the floor."
No ripple at the name, Riley noticed. She wondered if that meant people hadn't made the connection, or if they'd already heard and had time to process who she was.
"Thank you, Director Strand." Katherine stepped forward. "Three weeks ago, a forensic accounting team caught some financial irregularities at our Israeli embassy. Further investigation traced those irregularities to a junior diplomat, Andrew Hart. We placed Hart under surveillance, and a week later intercepted some files he mailed to his mother on a flash drive. We copied the files before allowing the drive to continue to its recipient."
Interesting. Not exactly standard work for AN/SPM.
"What was in the files?" Gabriel asked.
She shook her head. "We don't know. That's one of the reasons we're here. We're hoping Cyber Com will have better luck decrypting them than we did."
Lillian nodded. "We can do that. Anything else we should know?"
"Yes," Nguyen said. "Andrew Hart's mother is Senator Susan Hart."
Silence fell at the name.
"She's one of the leading contenders for the Democratic presidential nomination," Jameson said at last.
"She hasn't officially declared her candidacy yet," Mendez said.
"No, but there are a lot of rumours," Riley said.
"Which is why it's important we find out what's on that flash drive," Katherine said. "If there's any possibility that there's something going on, we need to know."
"Then let's see those files," Lillian said.
Brooks fished out a flash drive, which Jameson claimed and plugged in.
"Run the decryption program," Lillian ordered.
Jameson, screen safely turned away from their visitors, pretended to type while Gabriel moved to stand behind him, casually reading over his shoulder. A moment later, Gabriel looked up.
"This is CIA intel," he said. "A list of some of our assets in the Middle East."
"There's no reason for a junior diplomat to have that kind of information," Lillian said. "Let alone be sending it to his mother."
"There's something else," Gabriel said, expression distant. "Susan Hart went to college with Charles Dyer."
Charles Dyer. One of the remaining four Tigers.
"How did we miss that earlier?" Lillian demanded.
"She hasn't officially declared her candidacy, so she wasn't on the list," Jameson said.
There were just too many people to look into, Riley thought. It was impossible for one man to investigate the entire US government.
"Who's Charles Dyer?" Nguyen asked.
Lillian and Mendez exchanged looks. He may not have been briefed on Clockwork, but he clearly knew about the Flood.
"Someone we believe is working for the Iranians," Mendez said. "I understand that Cyber Command has been tracking him for some time now."
"And eventually we'll find him," Lillian said.
"You think Dyer recruited Hart?" Brooks asked skeptically.
"That's the question," Lillian said.
Riley could read the doubt on the faces of all three INR agents. It probably would have sounded unbelievable to her too, before Weatherly. Before her partner had been framed for three murders.
"We can't just go in and start accusing a US Senator of working for a foreign government," Mendez said. "We need evidence."
"If Susan Hart is working for the Iranians, she's going to have to get this intel to them somehow," Riley said.
"She could do that anytime," Lillian said. "When did she get the flash drive?"
"Two days ago," Katherine said.
"Then she could have already done handed it over."
Nguyen shook his head. "No, she couldn't have. Senator Hart received some very specific death threats last week. She's under twenty-four hour protection by the Capitol Police since, and she's only had a handful of highly restricted meetings. Plus we've been running surveillance on both her and her computer since before the flash drive arrived. The intel hasn't gone anywhere."
"If she knows she's being watched, then she's going to be very careful about how she does this," Riley said.
"She has a charity fundraiser coming up tomorrow night," Gabriel said. "Several people from the Iranian embassy will be there."
He'd stopped making even a pretense of looking at the screen. Riley hoped she was the only one who'd noticed.
"That could be when she's planning on passing the intel," Lillian said. "In which case, we're going to have to be there when she does."
"The fundraiser is being held at the Germany embassy," Jameson said, still typing diligently. "We're not going to be able to get cameras in there that quickly."
"Then I guess we'll have to do this the old-fashioned way," Lillian said. She turned to Riley and Gabriel. "How do you two feel about going to a party tomorrow?"
***
"How was dinner with your sister?" Riley asked as they circled the rooms, drinks in hand, trying to keep the senator in sight without appearing too conspicuous.
"Fine," Gabriel said. "It was good to catch up with her."
"She seems very nice," Riley offered, although they hadn't had much chance to interact. Mission planning had gone well into the evening, and then Katherine and Gabriel had left for supper shortly afterward.
"She's good at what she does," Gabriel said. He stopped in a corner that gave them a good view of both the senator and the exits. Riley stopped beside him, angled away just a little to increase their field of vision.
"It sounds like she and Bill are thinking about getting a divorce," Gabriel added.
Riley kept her eyes on the senator. "Really? What happened?"
"The usual problems with a military marriage. Too many tours. Too much time away. Too much moving around. Everything my mother warned her about."
"Must be hard," Riley said. Her parents hadn't faced any of that, and their marriage had still fallen apart. She had no idea how people stayed together with all of those obstacles. Although Gabriel had apparently done it with Amelia, right up until Amelia walked away and never came back. And his parents had presumably done it too. Was it easier or harder, she wondered, when you shared the same career? The same risks? "Don't they have kids?"
"Two," Gabriel said. "Their daughter's in college, and their son starts in the fall. I think that's one of the reasons Katie and Bill decided it was time." He turned away a little more. "There are the Iranians," he said, tilting his head toward the other side of the room. "Keep an eye on the senator."
He slipped away, probably to try and get a read on their phones. Riley turned back to the senator, who was working her way expertly through the crowd. Riley prepared to follow, tugging a little at her dress as she found a new position along the wall. She really hoped she wasn't going to have to run this evening. There were times when she missed the simplicity-and sensible clothing-of the Secret Service.
On the other hand-she spared a quick, appreciative look toward Gabriel, who had cleaned up very nicely-undercover work did have its benefits too. Although she'd never tell him that.
Riley moved twice more before Gabriel returned.
"Nothing incriminating on their phones," he said quietly, slipping back into place beside Riley.
"Then I guess we wait for the senator to make her move," Riley said.
They didn't have to wait long. A few minutes later, the senator paused after her conversation with a fellow senator, pulled out her phone just long enough to glance at it, and then headed toward a nearby exit. No one, Riley noticed, seemed to be following her.
Riley looked quizzically at Gabriel.
"Text message from a burner phone belonging to one of the Iranians," he said. "She's been invited to a meeting down the hall."
"Sounds like a meeting we should attend."
The senator was already out of sight. So were the Iranians.
"There's a back way," Gabriel said. "Come on."
Riley followed him through a circuitous path of rooms and corridors-dodging security staff as they went-that eventually put them in a hallway lined with dark-paneled doors, still within earshot of the party.
"They're just around the corner," Gabriel whispered, mouth close to her ear.
Riley glanced up at the camera overhead.
"I have it running on a loop," Gabriel whispered. "I'm watching them through another camera."
Riley nodded, and the two of them crept closer, straining to hear the conversation above the noise of the party.
"The president respects that," Hart was saying. "But he also needs some assurances that resumed relations won't be used as an excuse to further isolate Israel."
Riley exchanged a look with Gabriel and took a step back from the corner. "She's not here to give the Iranians US intelligence," she whispered.
"She's here to see if the Iranians are open to talking to us," Gabriel agreed. He looked up suddenly, then touched Riley's sleeve. "Come on," he whispered. He hurried back the way they came, quietly testing doors as he went. One door. Two. Riley glanced backwards over her shoulder, heart racing. Visions of classic spy films-of couples making out in dark alleys to throw off pursuers-flashed through her mind's eye. An unexpected rush of heat passed through her at the thought of Gabriel shoving her up against the wall and pressing up against her. Then the third door opened, and Gabriel slipped inside. Riley followed on his heels, relief mixing with disappointment, and closed the door behind them. They waited silently for a minute, Riley watching the door and Gabriel presumably watching the camera in the hall, and then Gabriel relaxed.
"That was close," he said with a grin. "For a minute I thought we were going to have to start making out in the hallway to keep from being caught."
Riley could feel herself flushing. "In your dreams," she said lightly, stepping around him and opening the door, hoping to get out of the room before he noticed.
Gabriel followed her into the hall. "Wait a minute," he said, turning to look at her. "Are you...blushing?"
"We need to get back to the senator," Riley said, resolutely ignoring him. "We should keep an eye on her as long as she's here, in case she has another meeting planned tonight."
Gabriel stepped in front of her, blocking her way. "You are blushing."
"It's hot in here," Riley said defensively. "Come on. We need to find the senator." She stepped around him and began walking.
"I've got her," Gabriel said. "What I want to know is-"
"Gabriel," Riley warned.
"All right." He fell into step beside her. "What are we going to do if Senator Hart doesn't have another clandestine meeting planned tonight?"
"Then I guess it's back to the drawing board," Riley said. "Who else could that flash drive have been sent to?"
***
"Maybe we should ask Senator Hart," Lillian said. They were meeting in her office to avoid disturbing the skeletal night staff in C-Doc. Mendez and Katherine had stuck around for the debriefing. Nguyen and Brooks had returned to the INR to report.
"You want to bring in a US Senator and ask her who her son sent classified intel to?" Mendez asked with a frown.
"We don't have to tell her it came from her son," Lillian said. "At least not at first. Someone's sending classified intel to one of her staffers. She's probably in the best position to know who might be receiving it."
"Unless she really was the intended recipient and she just hasn't had a chance to make contact yet, in which case we'll be alerting her to the fact that we know," Mendez said.
"Then maybe we'll get something off her reactions," Gabriel said. "Shake her up enough to take action, maybe make a mistake."
"Agreed," Katherine said. "I think it's worth the risk."
Mendez sighed. "Fine. But handle her with kid gloves. If she's guilty, we need evidence, and if she's innocent, I don't want complaints coming back on us."
"I'll call her tomorrow morning and ask her to come in," Lillian said. She yawned. "I think that's it for tonight. Sam, stick around for a minute? Gabriel, Riley...good work."
The three of them headed out together.
"Want to grab a drink?" Katherine asked Gabriel as reached the doors.
"Sure," he said easily.
She looked across her brother at Riley. "Riley, you should come too."
Riley suppressed a yawn of her own, and wondered how all the Vaughns seemed to be able to run on zero sleep. "I don't want to get in the way."
"Don't worry," Katherine said, offering her a familiar-looking grin. "We did all the boring catching up last night. Tonight I want to hear about what Gabriel's up to these days." She glanced over at her brother. "Well, the parts he can talk about."
Gabriel smiled and said nothing.
"It sounds like you're a big part of that," Katherine added.
Well, it would be a chance to get a little more background information on Gabriel. Even things out a little more between them. "That sounds like fun."
They ended up in a bar a few blocks from Gabriel's and Riley's apartments. Three rounds-and a number of carefully-censored stories-later, Riley decided it had been part of a deliberate plan on Katherine's part to get her and Gabriel drunk and talking while having an excuse to limit her own drinking.
Gabriel was in the restroom when Katherine-Kate-made her move.
"So what's really going on with you two?" she asked, leaning in conspiratorially.
Riley shook her head. "We're partners and friends. That's it." Which was true. Even if she had thought about kissing him in that hallway.
Kate looked at her skeptically. "Really? Because from the amount he talks about you…"
"We spend a lot of time together," Riley said. "And like he said, most of what we do is classified. He probably doesn't have anything else to talk about. Anyway, I don't think Lillian would be too happy if we started dating." Although Nelson seemed to be rooting for them.
"Gabriel's never been one to let the rules-or a superior officer-stop him from going after what he wants," Kate said. "At least not when he thought it was a bad rule."
Riley had already figured that much out. She held similar views herself, although their evaluations of what constituted a bad rule sometimes differed.
"My mother's convinced there's more going on," Kate added. "After what she said, I thought maybe she was right."
"What did she say?" Riley asked.
Kate smiled. "Ask Gabriel." Her smile faded into a look of concern. "And speaking of my brother, what's going on with him?"
She'd wondered if something like this might be coming. It was pretty much impossible to work with Gabriel and not notice...something. Especially given how perfunctory his attempts at hiding the chip were. Riley hadn't figured out whether using the chip had become such a reflex that he just forgot how it looked, or whether on some level he wanted people to know. "What do you mean?"
"It's just...all these stories and I still don't really know what he really does at Cyber Com. Or how he ended up there. He's the last person I ever expected to see at Cyber Com. He almost never used computers before he joined. Plus...he loved the Army. I couldn't believe it when he told me he was separating."
"I think Amelia's disappearance changed a lot of things for him," Riley said cautiously.
"That was a bad time," Kate agreed. "But Cyber Command?" She sighed. "I suppose you can't really talk about it. Whatever it is."
"What makes you think there's an it?" Riley asked.
"There's always an in in this business," Kate said.
It was close to last call before Riley finally made it home. She was so tired she'd accepted Gabriel's assistance that he could make it upstairs to his apartment alone-which, to be fair, he did on a regular basis when they weren't coming home from work-and dropped him at the door to his building. Still, she glanced through her window as she stepped inside and checked to make sure there was a light on in Gabriel's apartment. Satisfied that he'd made it home safely, she changed and brushed her teeth, then collapsed gratefully into bed.
Riley felt hands slide up her abdomen, followed by a warm mouth laying a path of kisses. The mouth reached her breast, tongue coaxing one nipple into aching erectness before moving to the other.
"Gabriel," she moaned.
His lips met hers as his hand slid down between her legs. Riley moaned again. A moment later, he slid back down her body, mouth replacing his hand. She spread her legs to give him better access, breathing faster as his tongue flicked her clit. Riley arched beneath his attentions. She was so close now….
Riley woke abruptly, aroused and unsatisfied. She stared up at the ceiling, still feeling his hands on her body, the weight of him on her, and cursed Kate for putting the thought in her head.
No. It hadn't been Kate. She'd been avoiding this for days now. Months, even.
When exactly had her world shifted? When Gabriel was shot and she'd carried him, bleeding, more scared than she'd ever been in her life? Afterward, when his mother raised the possibility that they were more than partners? Or when she'd been sitting across the table from the perfectly nice man her Denise was trying to set her up with, and realized she couldn't stop comparing him to Gabriel?
And given that her world had shifted, what the hell was she going to do about it?
She wasn't especially worried about the effects on their professional relationship. It was already her job to die for him, and it had been clear from the first day that he'd do the same for her, regardless of official jobs or their relative importance to the country. Changing their relationship wasn't going to change that.
The real problem-apart from the fact that he'd given her no sign that he felt the same way-was that Gabriel already consumed most of her life, and she wasn't sure if she really wanted to hand over the rest of it to him.
With a sigh, Riley turned over. It could wait until tomorrow. Then she sighed again, and still uncomfortable, and reached down to give herself the satisfaction that her dream had denied her. When she came, it was to the thought of her partner.
***
"I don't understand," Susan Hart said. "What do you mean someone sent classified intel to my office?" She frowned. "What were you doing screening my mail?"
"We weren't," Kate said. "We were tracking the person who sent you the intel."
They were conducting the interview in a conference room rather than an interrogation room, the better to avoid offending the senator. Or alerting her to their suspicions.
"Who was it?"
"That's classified," Gabriel said.
"Can you think of anyone on your staff who might be working with a foreign government?" Riley asked.
"Of course not!" Hart said. "If I thought that anyone on my staff was capable of that, they wouldn't be working for me."
She sounded sincere. Genuinely surprised that it was even a possibility.
"You went to college with a man named Charles Dyer," Gabriel said, changing tactics.
"Charlie?" Hart said. "Sure. I haven't talked to him in months, though."
"Charles Dyer has been linked to an organization of sleeper agents," Riley said. "We have strong reason to believe that he's working for the Iranian government."
Hart paled. "That's impossible. That's...oh, God."
"What?" Katherine asked.
"Gwen Snow. My chief of staff. I met her through Charlie. He's the one who recommended her. But she couldn't-"
"She have access to your mail?" Gabriel asked.
"Of course," Hart said. "But-"
"Does she know we asked you to come in today?" Riley asked.
"Yes. I had to cancel some fundraising meetings to come in. She needed to know."
"Let's go," Gabriel said, pushing back his chair. Riley stood up and grabbed her coat.
Riley called ahead once they were en route. A moment later, she hung up, frustrated. "Gwen Snow left the office twenty minutes ago."
"She's at home," Gabriel said. "The security cams on her building show her going in, but not coming out again."
"She went home?" Riley said disbelievingly.
"Maybe they skimped on her training," Gabriel said, twisting the wheel to the left.
"Or maybe she thought it would take us longer to make the connection than it did. How did you pick that up, anyway? Don't they use a closed-circuit system?"
Gabriel grinned. "They stream it online so the residents can check the cameras with their smartphones."
Snow's place was the kind of high-end condo building with extensive amenities and a concierge/security guard at the front desk. Riley appreciated the latter-people responded much better to credentials than machines did. They waited until they were outside Snow's apartment before drawing their side arms.
Riley knocked on the door. "Ms. Snow?" she called. "Building management. We need you to evacuate."
There was no reply. She knocked again.
Silence.
Gabriel took a step back and stared at the wall. "Trying out Nelson's Wi-Fi trick," he said briefly. After a moment, he shook his head. "There's no one in there."
"Could she have left the building?" Riley asked, holstering her weapon.
"I've been watching the cameras," Gabriel said. "No sign of her. And the building plans say every exit is monitored."
"Then she has to be here somewhere," Riley said. She remembered the first floor signs pointing to the building facilities. "Think she decided to hit the gym?"
"Let's find out," Gabriel said.
She wasn't in the gym. Or the pool. Or the sauna. Or the party room.
"She has to be here somewhere," Riley said.
Gabriel glanced over at the elevator. "How about the roof?"
They emerged onto the rooftop terrace cautiously, guns drawn. Gabriel gestured Riley to the left, then turned right. She circled carefully, watching for any sign of Snow. There was a clatter behind her and she spun, aiming for the sound. At almost the same time, someone landed on her back.
She went down hard, twisting as she fell to try and get a grip on her attacker. Snow dropped an elbow on her wrist, causing Riley to lose her group her gun. She knocked it under a nearby chair with her leg and squirmed beneath the other woman. She managed to work an arm free long enough to elbow her attacker in the face, and then pushed her off. Riley scrambled to her feet and went for her gun, but Snow caught her right arm before she could reach it and twisted hard. Riley screamed as her shoulder dislocated. Gritting her teeth, she stomped on Snow's foot and punched her in the gut, then stepped back and leaned down to grab her gun. She turned back just in time to see Gabriel come around the corner, fast and focused. She met his eyes briefly and saw panic melt into relief when he saw her. She recognized that panic. It was the same thing she'd felt when he'd crumpled to the ground beside her after the sniper took his shot.
Maybe her world hadn't been the only one that had shifted after all.
"Get down," Gabriel ordered Snow sharply. Snow looked from Riley to him, and back again, and then slowly obeyed. Gabriel came up and handcuffed her, then pushed her roughly into a nearby chair. Riley holstered her weapon, and reached over to hold onto her arm.
"Are you okay?" Gabriel asked.
Riley grimaced. "I think my shoulder's dislocated."
He put his gun away and reached out, gently running his fingers along her shoulder, then pulled on her arm gently. Riley winced.
"Yeah, it's dislocated," he said. "Do you want me to fix it, or do you want to wait for a doctor?"
"Go ahead," she said, and braced herself. Gabriel pulled. A minute later, the pain let up.
"Better?"
"Yeah," she said. She looked over at Snow. "We've got some people who want to talk to you," she said.
***
"You didn't have to cook me supper, you know," she said as Gabriel set a plate down in front of her. She looked down at the food. Curry and rice. Nothing that needed to be cut up.
"Seems like the least I can do after letting you get hurt," he said, nodding toward her sling. He grabbed a second plate from the counter and sat down across from her. "And it looks like it's going to be a few days before you're cooking for yourself again."
"You didn't let me get hurt. It's a risk of the job. Plus it's my job to protect you, remember?"
"I still don't want my partner starving to death," Gabriel said, picking up his fork.
"I don't think there's any danger of that," Riley said. She tasted the food cautiously, then dug in with more enthusiasm. "By the way, your mother called today. She wants me-us-to come over for dinner next weekend."
"She told me," Gabriel said. "What'd you say?"
"I said I'd be happy to go. I like your mother, you know."
"Even if she does insist on claiming that we're more than partners?"
Riley bit her lip, considering. "Speaking of that, when we were out with Kate, she said that your mother said something about why she thought that. Something that made her think it might be true."
"Yeah?" Gabriel looked interested. "What did she say?"
"I don't know. She said to ask you."
"What...oh. That."
"What did she say?" Riley asked.
Gabriel sighed. "She said that when a woman goes on the lam with a guy who's being accused of a triple homicide, there's more than professional feelings involved."
"Did you mention to her that the whole point of my job is to keep you safe?"
"I'm not sure that would make a difference."
Riley hesitated. Moment of truth. Should she jump off the cliff?
Her life was already all about Gabriel. Could it actually get any worse? It wasn't like she could date anyone else, with her schedule. Not when she was comparing every man she met to him.
What if he didn't feel the same way?
What if he did?
"What if she had a point?" Riley asked slowly.
"What do you mean?"
Riley took a deep breath. "I mean...at the time, all I could think was there was no way I was going to see you go to prison. Not when I knew you were innocent. But...lately, I've been thinking…."
Gabriel set his fork down and looked across the table at her, waiting.
"We spend all day together at work," Riley said. "And then we get off work and we go out for a beer or dinner or both. And then we get up the next morning and do it all again." She was talking around it, she knew. She still wasn't sure whether he
"Okay. So what are you saying?"
"I'm saying I spend all that time with you, and I never seem to get tired of it. And maybe...maybe we could spend a little more time together."
Realization dawned on his face and was chased away by a broadening smile. Riley closed her eyes briefly, warm with relief.
"I don't know," Gabriel teased. "Like you said, there aren't a lot of hours we don't already spend together."
"So it wouldn't be much of a change," Riley said. She looked directly at him. "I bet we could put the extra time to good use."
They were out of their chairs at the same moment, meeting at the side of the table.
Kissing Gabriel proved to be much more satisfying in real life than it had been in her dream.